The invention is generally directed to a carriage control system for an impact or a non-impact serial-type printer, such a serial dot printer and in particular to a small high efficiency printer which enables optimum speed control outside of the print area to minimize the distance required outside of the print area for acceleration and deceleration and thus minimize the printer width.
Various methods for controlling the carriage of a serial-type printer have been suggested. However, each of these methods suffers from the disadvantage of requiring wide spaces on both sides of the printing area for acceleration and deceleration of the carriage. This results in a printer having a total width significantly wider than the print area and increases the overall width of the printer.
Accordingly, there is a need for a small printer with a high efficiency carriage control system which optimizes speed control outside of the print area by minimizing the carriage acceleration and deceleration distances to provide a narrower and more compact printer.